HERBIE! Journeys on our narrowboat and the trials and tribulations of maintaining her.

Friday, September 21, 2012

The root of the problem?

If you didn’t read yesterdays post – read that first – it’s an ongoing story!
Measurements of the valve rise and fall showed that the cam shaft was indeed worn especially on one cylinder, which would certainly cause the engine to run out of balance. So we bit the proverbial bullet and authorised fitting a new camshaft. We moved the boat down to near the workshop and Jim set about disconnecting all the pipes and cables that attach to the engine. Then before we knew it the crane was lifting out the engine.
Jim holds her steady:
A quick steam clean, then working like men possessed Jim and Ian set about dismantling an alarmingly large proportion of the engine, or so it seemed to me at any rate.
I hope they remember where all the bits go. As Ian has stripped and rebuilt literally hundreds of these engines he ought to.
It wasn’t long before Ian arrived at the boat triumphantly bearing the camshaft showing a very badly worn cam for No3 cylinder inlet.
As you can see, one of the cams is really worn down and pitted. Compare with the ones further along the shaft.
At the end of the working day, the new camshaft was in and the engine was partly reassembled.
Then, after a stressful day, we got a visit from Rick and Marilyn who ferried us out to the pub in Flecknoe where we had a rather fine pie and chips and a very nice ale called Goats Milk. Also we came second in their pub quiz- only let down by our incomplete knowledge of pop song lyrics. I even failed to spot a line from Baby Love by the Supremes. I’ll never live it down.
Now Herbie’s empty engine bay lies clean and hoovered out waiting for what we hope is a smooth running motor.